MIKEL JOLLETT | AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT: My favorite Billy story is the time he flew all the way to Louisville, Kentucky, to watch us play one show with the Louisville Orchestra. He purchased three tickets, side by side, because he wanted room to dance. And dance he did — wildly, arms flailing, bent at the waste, a blur of grey bangs and red wine — right there in the middle of this starchy orchestral audience. At first people asked him to sit down, but he ignored them and kept Billy-dancing. And then, like a kind of pied piper of revelry, he turned around and waved his hands in the air yelling, “C’mon! Up! Everybody! Up!” and two thousand people spontaneously rose to their feet and started dancing.

Everything was like this with him. He would show up at Airborne Toxic Event shows with music recommendations (rare John Peel sessions, say), some kind of food (a rare cheese, maybe, or a smoked meat), and a stack of books for me to read (he favored Mickey Spillane and pulp crime novels). We’d all break open some whiskey and, the next thing we knew, he was behind the bar, or we were, or everybody would decide to take the fire escape instead of the door. It wasn’t just that he was a fan. It was that he really believed in music, he was transformed by it. A lot of people come to shows and listen, but man, he really listened. He wanted to talk about the lyrics, the songs, the guitars, what he was listening to, what it all meant — to share his opinions (always strong, always offered up in droves) — and generally just get lost in it all. I think that’s probably why so many musicians loved having him around since that’s the reason we all became artists in the first place.

KURT DAVIS | THE KONKS, BULLET LAVOLTA: I have so many memories of Billy, and they’re all shooting at me like juggernauts. But they’re all the same memory. The firmest handshake I’ve ever encountered, but learned to deflect by only giving him my fingers. Then the whisker-bristled kiss on the cheek, then the spit flying, manic conversation, and the mad cackle.

I always fucking loved Billy and when friends around me didn’t know him and saw him blow into a room like a hurricane, throw money into a jukebox, at a merch table, at the bar buying drinks for people, dancing, drink flying, unwashed, disheveled, but well-dressed, and would look at me with a semi horrified expression: “Who is that?!”

Oh, that’s Billy.

We have Billy to thank for many things: he is the reason there’s music at the Middle East; he’d needed more than one venue for his 30th birthday bash, and wanted something right by TT’s, so asked Joseph and Nabil if he might extend his party there, they said yes. He also brought tons of fucking great bands to town over the years and he had great taste. He definitely lived in the moment and I had to talk him down from raving anger more than once, but goddamn, I’ve never, ever met anyone more generous. I remember him being irate that he’d been cut off at a pub before he’d even had a drink. He was still pissed about it a week later and was launching into the story with fury. He finished and I just looked at him and said, “Billy, come on. . .”

Off the record? Pity the album. After a half-century of embarrassingly public body issues, our essential rock unit has not entered the new millennium looking very healthy. EPs are way more in vogue, MP3s have intangibility on their side, and 12-inches just sound impressive.

Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker display their indie artifacts It was on a whim roughly 25 years ago that a young David Lowery called up a friend at SST Records to see how SST had been promoting records that year. "He just said, 'Hey, we've been sending a lot of our stuff to college radio stations, and they seem to be playing them a lot.' I mean, this is literally like how this all started."

Mistle Thrush reunite, remain indefinable It's a fun bit of Boston rock trivia that on September 23, 1991, homegrown post-punk band Bullet LaVolta played WFNX's fifth-birthday show at Axis with two relative unknowns: the Smashing Pumpkins and, on the eve of Nevermind 's release, Nirvana.

Photos: One Night in Boston 2011 STUFF Magazine presents photos taken in Boston's streets over eight hours on the night of July 15, 2011; here are a few of our favorites.

Interview: Talking with Mission of Burma's Roger Miller This weekend (January 20-21) brings a two-night stand at Brighton Music Hall for post-punk godfathers Mission of Burma, who have somehow morphed into a band that's equal parts internationally renowned throwbacks and prolific local underdogs.

MICHAUD FOR GOVERNOR | November 03, 2014 However you’ve been following the race for Governor this election season, you’ve been hearing it from all sides, so we’ll make this one brief. We urge you to vote for Michael Michaud.

ADVANCED BEAUTY LESSONS | November 03, 2014 Described as a “body-positive visibility project,” Portland’s Jack Tar 207 is all about representation. Models are encouraged to bring their own clothing and personal belongings to the shoot, which owner-designer LK Weiss says brings out “a level of confidence that many people don’t feel in front of a camera.”

LITERALLY LGBT | October 31, 2014 A community-compiled list of important GBLTQ works through the years.

BACK TO REALITY | September 18, 2014 If you’re a student in southern Maine and are at all interested in arts and humanities, and have a budget of exactly $10 to spend on any one event, there’s a lot in your favor.